Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Investigations of the optical properties of enamel and dentin for early caries detection

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Clinical Oral Investigations Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

The aim of this study was to experimentally investigate the potential of different light wavelengths to distinguish between healthy and carious tissue using a two-circle goniometer.

Materials and methods

Tooth slices were prepared from extracted human teeth that were caries free (n = 15) or had occlusal caries lesions (n = 10). The tooth slices were irradiated with diode laser modules of different wavelengths (532, 650, 780 nm). The transmitted and scattered laser light was spatially measured with a detector rotating on a two-circle goniometer. The anisotropy factor and attenuation coefficients were calculated.

Results

Enamel was more transparent than dentin and showed wavelength-dependent attenuation. Healthy dentin showed strong light scattering at all wavelengths, independent of the tested wavelength. The calculated attenuation coefficients of carious and healthy tooth tissue differed significantly (p < 0.05; t test). In contrast to healthy enamel, carious enamel showed lower light transmission and an increase in scattering. Differences in the light attenuation of carious versus healthy dentin were less pronounced than those for enamel. Carious dentin was slightly more transparent than healthy dentin. The light of longer wavelengths showed a better penetration of all tooth structures compared with shorter wavelengths.

Conclusion

Healthy and carious dentin and enamel exhibited distinct optical properties using laser light at different wavelengths. In dentin, changes in the optical properties caused by caries are significantly less pronounced.

Clinical relevance

The clear distinction between healthy and carious enamel makes optical caries diagnostic systems ideal tools for early caries detection.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Buehler CM, Ngaotheppitak P, Fried D (2005) Imaging of occlusal dental caries (decay) with near-IR light at 1310-nm. Opt Express 2:573–582. https://doi.org/10.1364/OPEX.13.000573

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Karlsson L (2010) Caries detection methods based on changes in optical properties between healthy and carious tissue. Int J Dent 2010:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/270729

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Fried D, Staninec M, Darling CL, Staninec M, Lee C et al (2010) Near-infrared imaging of dental decay at 1310 nm. J Laser Dent 18:8–16

    Google Scholar 

  4. Spitzer D, Bosch JT, ten Bosch JJ (1975) The absorption and scattering of light in bovine and human dental enamel. Calcif Tissue Res 2:129–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02547285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ten Bosch JJ, Zijp JR (1987) Optical properties of dentin. Dentine Reactions in the Oral Cavity 34–40

  6. Fried D, Glena RE, Featherstone JD et al (1995) Nature of light scattering in dental enamel and dentin at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Appl Opt 7:1278–1285. https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.34.001278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Jones RS, Fried D (2002) Attenuation of 1310- and 1550-nm laser light through sound dental enamel. Int Soc Opt Eng 4610:187–190. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.469324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Jones RS, Huynh GD, Jones GC, Fried D (2003) Near-infrared transillumination at 1310-nm for the imaging of early dental decay. Opt Express 11:2259–2265. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.11.002259

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Darling CL, Huynh GD, Fried D (2006) Light scattering properties of natural and artificially demineralized dental enamel at 1310 nm. J Biomed Opt 11:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.2204603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Chan AC, Darling CL, Chan KH et al (2014) Attenuation of near-IR light through dentin at wavelengths from 1300-1650-nm. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng 8929:1–5. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2045629

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Pretty IA (2006) Caries detection and diagnosis: novel technologies. J Dent 10:727–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdent.2006.06.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Fried D, Featherstone JDB, Darling CL, Jones RS, Ngaotheppitak P, Bühler CM (2005) Early caries imaging and monitoring with near-infrared light. Dent Clin N Am 4:771–793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cden.2005.05.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Kühnisch J, Ifland S, Tranaeus S et al (2006) Establishing quantitative light-induced fluorescence cut-offs for the detection of occlusal dentine lesions. Eur J Oral Sci 6:483–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Amaechi BT (2009) Emerging technologies for diagnosis of dental caries: the road so far. J Appl Phys 10:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3116632

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kühnisch J, Söchtig F, Pitchika V, Laubender R, Neuhaus KW, Lussi A, Hickel R (2016) In vivo validation of near-infrared light transillumination for interproximal dentin caries detection. Clin Oral Investig 4:821–829. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-015-1559-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Lederer A, Kunzelmann K-H, Heck K, Hickel R, Litzenburger F (2019) In vitro validation of near-infrared transillumination at 780 nm for the detection of caries on proximal surfaces. Clin Oral Investig 23:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-019-02824-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Lederer A, Kunzelmann KH, Hickel R, Litzenburger F (2018) Transillumination and HDR imaging for proximal caries detection. J Dent Res 7:844–849. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022034518759957

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Bader JD, Shugars DA (2004) A systematic review of the performance of a laser fluorescence device for detecting caries. J Am Dent Assoc 10:1413–1426. https://doi.org/10.14219/jada.archive.2004.0051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Roither Laser Technik GmbH (2020) Technical Data, Rothdiener Laser. http://www.roithner-laser.com/datasheets/laser/laser_modules/apcd-650-02-c2.pdf 29.05.2020 Accessed 08:45

  20. Bohren CF, Huffman DR (eds) (2007) Absorption and scattering of light by small particles. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

    Google Scholar 

  21. Zijp JR, ten Bosch JJ (1991) Angular dependence of HeNe-laser light scattering by bovine and human dentine. Arch Oral Biol 4:283–289. https://doi.org/10.1016/0003-9969(91)90098-F

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Zijp JR, ten Bosch JJ, Groenhuis RA (1995) HeNe-laser light scattering by human dental enamel. J Dent Res 12:1891–1898. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345950740121301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Sardar DK, Mayo ML, Glickman RD (2001) Optical characterization of melanin. J Biomed Opt 4:404–411. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.1411978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Bohren CF, Huffman DR (eds) (2008) Absorption and scattering of light by small particles. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

    Google Scholar 

  25. Popp J, Tučin VV, Chiou A et al (eds) (2011) Basics and techniques. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

    Google Scholar 

  26. Marshall GW, Chang YJ, Gansky SA et al (2001) Demineralization of caries-affected transparent dentin by citric acid: An atomic force microscopy study. Dent Mater 1:45–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0109-5641(00)00056-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Manly R, BROOKS E (1947) Transparency and light scattering of dental hard tissues. J Dent Res 6:427–434. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345470260060601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Tranaeus S, Shi X-Q, Angmar-Månsson B (2005) Caries risk assessment: methods available to clinicians for caries detection. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 4:265–273. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0528.2005.00234.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Shi XQ, Tranaeus S, Angmar-Månsson B (2001) Comparison of QLF and DIAGNOdent for quantification of smooth surface caries. Caries Res 1:21–26. https://doi.org/10.1159/000047426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Marinova-Takorova M, Anastasova R, Panov VE (2014) Comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of five methods for early caries diagnosis of occlusal caries lesions – in vitro study. JofIMAB 3:533–536. https://doi.org/10.5272/jimab.2014203.533

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Lederer A, Kunzelmann K-H, Heck K, Hickel R, Litzenburger F (2019) In-vitro validation of near-infrared reflection for proximal caries detection. Eur J Oral Sci 6:515–522. https://doi.org/10.1111/eos.12663

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Lea Hoffmann and Matthias Feraric contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany

    Lea Hoffmann, Matthias Feraric, Friederike Litzenburger & Karl-Heinz Kunzelmann

  2. Department for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany

    Eva Hoster

Authors
  1. Lea Hoffmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthias Feraric
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eva Hoster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Friederike Litzenburger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Karl-Heinz Kunzelmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

These authors contributed equally to this paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lea Hoffmann.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. All experimental procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany (488-15 UE).

Informed consent

For this type of study, formal consent is not required.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hoffmann, L., Feraric, M., Hoster, E. et al. Investigations of the optical properties of enamel and dentin for early caries detection. Clin Oral Invest 25, 1281–1289 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-020-03434-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-020-03434-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation